Moses Before Pharaoh

7 So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you ^(A)as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be ^(B)your prophet. ² You ^(C)shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. ³ And ^(D)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and ^(E)multiply My ^(F)signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ But ^(G)Pharaoh will not heed you, so ^(H)that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My ^[a]armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt ^(I)by great judgments. ⁵ And the Egyptians ^(J)shall know that I am the Lord, when I ^(K)stretch out My hand on Egypt and ^(L)bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

⁶ Then Moses and Aaron ^(M)did so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did. ⁷ And Moses was ^(N)eighty years old and ^(O)Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Miraculous Rod^(P)

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ^(Q)‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ^(R)‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just ^(S)as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it ^(T)became a serpent.

¹¹ But Pharaoh also ^(U)called the wise men and ^(V)the ^[b]sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also ^(W)did in like manner with their ^[c]enchantments. ¹² For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. ¹³ And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The First Plague: Waters Become Blood

¹⁴ So the Lord said to Moses: ^(X)“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the ^(Y)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and ^(Z)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. ¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ^(AA)‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, ^(AB)that they may ^[d]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord: “By this ^(AC)you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and ^(AD)they shall be turned ^(AE)to blood. ¹⁸ And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will ^(AF)loathe^[e] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and ^(AG)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” ²⁰ And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he ^(AH)lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the ^(AI)waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹ The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians ^(AJ)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

^22 (AK)Then the magicians of Egypt did ^(AL)so with their ^[f]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, ^(AM)as the Lord had said. ²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. ²⁵ And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, ^(AN)that they may serve Me. ² But if you ^(AO)refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with ^(AP)frogs. ³ So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your ^(AQ)bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. ⁴ And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.” ’ ”

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(AR)‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’ ” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^(AS)the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ^7 (AT)And the magicians did so with their ^[g]enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, ^(AU)“Entreat^[h] the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people ^(AV)go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁹ And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.”

¹⁰ So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that ^(AW)there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”

¹² Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses ^(AX)cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³ So the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. ¹⁴ They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was ^(AY)relief, ^(AZ)he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Lice

¹⁶ So the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become ^[i]lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷ And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and ^(BA)it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸ Now ^(BB)the magicians so worked with their ^[j]enchantments to bring forth lice, but they ^(BC)could not. So there were lice on man and beast. ¹⁹ Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^(BD)the^[k] finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s ^(BE)heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(BF)“Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water. Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(BG)“Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²¹ Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²² And in that day ^(BH)I will set apart the land of ^(BI)Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may ^(BJ)know that I am the Lord in the midst of the ^(BK)land. ²³ I will ^[l]make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this ^(BL)sign shall be.” ’ ” ²⁴ And the Lord did so. ^(BM)Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²⁶ And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing ^(BN)the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not ^[m]stone us? ²⁷ We will go ^(BO)three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as ^(BP)He will command us.”

²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. ^(BQ)Intercede for me.”

²⁹ Then Moses said, “Indeed I am going out from you, and I will entreat the Lord, that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. But let Pharaoh not ^(BR)deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and ^(BS)entreated the Lord. ³¹ And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. ³² But Pharaoh ^(BT)hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.

Prayer with Confidence in Final Salvation

A Prayer of David.

Marriage and Divorce^(A)

19 Now it came to pass, ^(B)when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ^2 (C)And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

³ The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ^[a]made them at the beginning ^(D)‘made them male and female,’ ⁵ and said, ^(E)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(F)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷ They said to Him, ^(G)“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(H)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(I)wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (J)And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ^[b]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰ His disciples said to Him, ^(K)“If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus Teaches on Celibacy

¹¹ But He said to them, ^(L)“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: ¹² For there are ^[c]eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and ^(M)there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children^(N)

^13 (O)Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for ^(P)of such is the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁵ And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler^(Q)

^16 (R)Now behold, one came and said to Him, ^(S)“Good^[d] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

¹⁷ So He said to him, ^[e]“Why do you call Me good? ^[f]No one is ^(T)good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, ^(U)keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, ^(V)“‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ^19 (W)‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^(X)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have ^(Y)kept ^[g]from my youth. What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, ^(Z)go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

With God All Things Are Possible^(AA)

²³ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that ^(AB)it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵ When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but ^(AC)with God all things are possible.”

²⁷ Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, ^(AD)we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, ^(AE)you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ^29 (AF)And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother ^[h]or wife or children or ^[i]lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. ^30 (AG)But many who are first will be last, and the last first.